1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to a content delivery system, and more particularly to a video-on-demand system.
2. Background Art
Video-on-demand is becoming increasingly popular. With video-on-demand, a consumer can choose not only the content they wish to see, but also the viewing time as well. When a person orders a video-on-demand session, the selected content is delivered from a server to a receiving unit at the person's location, which is frequently a set-top box.
One issue associated with video-on-demand systems involves resource allocation. Servers are distributed across a network and selecting the correct server to serve a client request can be difficult. This difficulty is compounded when the various network components are not aware of what content is stored in what servers.
It would be advantageous to have a more efficient video-on-demand system.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.